Pre-modern Interfaith Dialogues with Special Reference to Nicholas of Cusa

Abstract

Hume claimed that the religions of the world are in such opposition that their alleged miracles conflict. However, even before Hume there were examples of eirenic interfaith dialogue, and this article1provides a historical review of eleven of these, prior to an account of Nicholas of Cusa’s De Pace Fidei (1453), which sought mutual understanding notwithstanding the recent fall of Constantinople. The Platonic nature of Cusa’s dialogue is discussed and especially the relation of ratio to intellectus in his thought. Finally, some implications for contemporary interfaith dialogue are examined and, in particular, the presence of a kind of argument that does not fit comfortably into the traditional via negativa/via positiva dichotomy.